I’m rereading parts of The Psychology of Computer Programming and I notice that several of Weinberg’s “food for thought” questions at the end of each chapter would be good questions to pose to a hiring manager:
- How long have you been in charge of your present group? How many of the original people remain? How many people have left and what were the reasons for their departure? What sort of provisions do you make for this kind of turnover?
- Describe the sequence of work planned for your current project. Is the actual work proceeding according to the original plan? Do you expect it to continue in this manner?
- How close is your progress reporting scheme to the reality of the work that goes on? What checks do you have to find out if it corresponds to reality?
- What is your impression of what motivates your staff? Is it the same for all of them?
Yes! Finally someone writes about turnover.